Modern Day Paradise
by Jyk
Summary: The pack has returned! They must face new challenges as their adventure takes place in modern times. The characters all remember their past, look the same, and have same personalities except Tsume. This time around Tsume is...a girl.
1. Chapter 1

Suddenly I was slammed against the wall. One second I had been walking along a busy sidewalk and the next I was thrown into an alley's wall.

I was surrounded by a group of about eight men that ranged from fifty to fifteen. I remained relaxed, but was not delighted about the gun pointed straight at my head.

"Look girlie," the man that had grabbed me said nervously, "I don't want to hurt you. I just need money, but if you don't want to comply then we have our methods." The man was glancing around nervously as if he was afraid someone would come.

"You know you forgot to add the threatening line, 'If you scream then I'll give you a reason to scream.' That is a very important part of the villain part."

The man looked slight surprised, and slightly amused. He cocked the gun, "Okay then let's try something else. How about you hand over all the money that I know you are hiding in those pockets."

I reached in my pockets, and upturned them. A knife, a few quarters, and a bracelet made of iron fell out, "Why do you think that I actually have any money on me?"

The man looked slightly horrified at the contents at the little money, "But you attend Princeton High. You're a rich kid."

"I'm an orphan," I said with a snort, "I currently being forced to live with rich folks. I'm not going to owe them anything and take money." The man ripped my backpack off my shoulder, and threw it to one of the younger boys. He had bright purple hair, and looked surprised to find himself catching my bag.

"Look through it," the leader said gruffly, "See if she has anything useful in there." The boy looked at me, licked his lips nervously, and rummaged through my bag. He moved books, went through my empty wallet, and grabbed some of the loose change at the bottom of the bag.

He shook his head, "There's nothing in there." He looked around, "I mean there is like a few bucks in change, but there's nothing else useful or worth anything."

"What type of kid doesn't take money from their parents, especially when they're loaded?" The leading man asked.

"Um," I said pushing the gun away from my head, "A kid who doesn't like her foster parents." I suddenly brought my knee straight up into his stomach. I ducked as he swiped the gun at me when my knee kind of missed its spot. If I wanted to really kill him, it would have been enough to do it, so I purposely missed.

I took off at a run.

The human grabbed me around the shoulders and breathed his putrid breath on my neck. I grabbed his hands and jerked them off. I could hear the bones crunch with my acute sense of hearing. I whirled around and ripped his throat out.

The last thing he saw was a large grey wolf with a cross scar on its chest. I licked my lips, and turned my eyes onto the shaking group of humans that he led.

I eyed them coolly, and shook the blood stained grey hair from my dark golden eyes, "Does anyone else have any other idiotic idea about grabbing a tiger by the tail?" I asked darkly. A man, second in command of the gang, held out his shaky gun towards my chest.

His face had gone a ghostly white and I could see his body shake as his prey instincts told him to run, "Demon," he whimpered. With what was left of his courage, he ran toward me shooting wildly.

I dodged the first bullet, and leapt up. For a split second I could see his body as he whirled around looking for me, but then I landed on top of him. Any bone that was left unbroken after that was probably strewn around the alley.

I rose from my crouch to see the last of the men run around the corner. I gave a shrug and glanced around the dirtied alley. I decided to leave the human bodies there. I reached down and dusted off my sun glasses, which didn't break, and put them on. I glanced around for my bag.

I searched for a moment then a horrible thought occurred to me. I whipped my head to the side, and realized that my bag was gone.

When I had been jumped on of the youngest boys had grabbed my bag. He was probably running now, and that bag had my history essay in it. If I didn't turn that in I was going to completely fail junior year, and repeat the entire year.

I took off after the retreating men.

I slid into the busy sidewalk, and, despite my bloody appearance, remained completely unnoticed. I continued my lope in the direction in which I could smell fear quite heavily from for a few minutes before bright purple hair caught my attention.

I instantly recognized the boy with my backpack. I mean, his hair was literally bright, bright purple, so how was I not supposed to? I stopped my running, and slipped into the shade of the nearest building. I could see my bag, forgotten, over his shoulder as he passed in front of a phone again and again.

It was clear that he debated if he should call the cops about the murder, but the desire to protect himself must have won over in the end because he took off along the busy street. Deciding that there were too many witnesses, I followed him at a safe distance.

I waited for him to slip away from the crowd, and finally my chance came. The boy slipped into the park. With the sun barely still visible on the horizon, the boy trying to find his way to the hideout that was hidden in the forest beyond, and a killer on the loose, I wondered how humans had actually survived all this time.

The boy should have taken a right, but instead he took a left towards the old slimy pond. At first, I thought that he must be lost, but then I realized what was happening. He'd remembered that he was holding my backpack. I watched as he swung my bag from his shoulder, and tossed it into the pond.

My heart sank along with my bag. Another year of high school. I considered completely ripping the boy apart, but I let him pass. I had already killed two humans today, and I didn't need people searching for large dogs again. At least, that's what the teeth marks and the paw prints will have them looking for.

With the boy gone I shed my human appearance. I really didn't know how the forms changed back and forth. I don't think anyone really knew. Sometimes wolves couldn't see each other's human form unless all of them where in it, and other times we couldn't even tell a wolf and a human apart.

I slipped into the pond slowly. I was getting my bag, but I was also taking a bath. The blood easily washed out of my grey fur.

The pond was shallow for only a short while before it suddenly dropped off. Luckily my bag had been thrown onto the shallow part, and I didn't need to go for a full swim. I walked over my bag, and lowered my mouth around the strap.

I pulled my head up, and the water fell from the bag with a heavy stream. I slowly climbed out of the pond, and shook my fur dry. Realizing how late for school I was, I grabbed the wet bag in my mouth, and took off at a full out run towards my school.

Had I actually been thinking that day I would have realized that a white wolf had come to watch me swim in the pond. If I hadn't been so intent on rescuing my bag I would have seen the attention that the chubby, red headed kid and his dark skinned girlfriend showed in me as they followed the white wolf in human form. If I hadn't been so intent on getting to school, I would have noticed the smaller brown and white wolf wagging his tail happily to see me.

Had I noticed these things then I would have never gone to paradise, but the pack had already set their eyes on the familiar mark that scarred my chest. The mark that marked me as their friend, but what they did not realize is that while they were exactly as they were in their past life I wasn't any close to the man they were looking for.


	2. Chapter 2

I was barely able to make it to school right before the class before lunch ended. I happily missed history, and had another day to turn in the essay. Many wolves teased me for actually going to high school, but when the state had clamped their jaws around you then you had to dance their tune or risk revealing the wolves' secret.

Luckily, my adoptive parents spent so much time being drunk that they didn't notice my odd behavior. How the state allowed drunkards to be parents, I will never know.

My teacher, Mr. Hoxter who is a very fat man, glanced at the drops of blood that had found their way on my clothing during the fight. I'd already cleaned off the blood from my skin, but I didn't have time to change.

"It's strange," he commented, as I stood with my hands in my back pockets in front of my English class, "How someone who wears so little clothing manages to get them so dirty." There were some snickers from the class, but most of them feared me enough to stay quiet.

I shrugged, "Just spilled ketchup on myself. Can I sit down now?" Mr. Hoxter pretended to believe me, and i pretended that I didn't know he disbelieved me. I slid into my seat, and the kids craned their heads to see if I had actually spilled ketchup on myself.

I glared at them through my ragged bangs, and they straightened themselves to look ahead. Humans they may be, but they were able to sense that I was different than them. I wrote down what I had missed, and lounged in class the rest of the time.

I ended up getting bored for the last twenty minutes, and wrote all over my arms. What was written was pretty random. My nickname, the name of the gang I ran, and some random stuff that the teacher said that sounded cool like, Nevermore, which I have decided will be the name of my next pet.

That or I was going to teach a raven to say nevermore, and let him sit on top of Edgar Allen Poe's grave, and let him freak out anyone who comes near.

The bell rang that told us that it was lunchtime. I got to my feet, and pulled my damp pack over my shoulder. A misfit that sat at the back came up behind me. His name was Jeremy. He was six foot five, had long shaggy hair, and always wore black and dark purple. He was strange, because he always had his bangs in front of his right eye. I don't think I've ever seen it before.

"Akuma," he said gently, "Want to go to The Alley? All the guys are headed there today." He glanced at my arms and smiled. It was one of those pained smiles that looked like he was getting electrocuted. "Kiba, Blue, Hige, Toboe, and Cheza again?"

I glanced to my arms, and realized that once again I had written those names on my arms. I licked my thumb, and erased them.

"I don't know what that's about," I growled fiercely, "They are stupid names."

"Says the one who calls herself Akuma." Jeremy said softly. I arched my eyebrow at him, and shoved his chest. He was sent back a few feet, and was barely able to keep from falling. He looked amused.

"Akuma," I said stiffly, "Means demon in Japanese." I think it did, but I'd been wrong more than once. "Besides, my real name sucks."

"Tsume," he said with a shake of his head, "I think it suits you." I knew Jeremy's real name was also different, but he'd only told me once, and my memory wasn't the best. I think it started with a D. Jeremy rubbed his chest.

I walked past him, "Hey," he said catching up with me, "Where you going?"

I gave him a side glance, "Ladies room, want to come?" Jeremy shook his head, "Then go ahead of me. I'll be there in a few moments." Jeremy gave me one of those side glances, "I'm going to the restroom!"

"You always get in trouble when I leave you alone." Jeremy started counting off his fingers, "Fights with random street performers, bit my poisonous snakes, and, oh, what about the time the horses pooped…"

"I'm going to the rest room," I said in exasperation, "What's going to happen? The toilet suddenly swallows me, and I'm transported into the magical world of pixies?" Jeremy, realizing that he wasn't about to win this fight, gave me a wave, and headed off to The Alley.

The Alley was where the bad kids that attended this prissy school hung out, and those who were in my gang, planned out fights and robberies. I trotted to the ladies room where there were plenty of girls in there completely hiding their faces in makeup.

They rather left, or turned their back to me, the female gang leader, and talked about me like I wasn't there.

"Don't mind me," I said with a perfect smile, "I just need to wash my mace free of blood and guts." They rolled their eyes, but I did notice them hurry and leave. I grabbed toilet paper, and tried scrubbing the blood off my white tank top.

The black leather vest that was on top of it had blood on it too, but it was harder to see. I could, also, blame the blood on my rather short shorts on food spills, so I was also fine there. The teacher had been right when he'd said that I hardly wore any clothes. My body was perfect, so why hide it? I, also, felt that the star scar on my chest needed to be, as much as I could without being completely revealing, shown. Others needed to know of my crime.

I, like I always do, allowed my eyes to follow the star like scar. I leaned into the mirror, and looked into my own eyes. I messed up my hair using my hand, and wiped at the corner of my mouth. I could see small traces of blood there, and I could even taste it there.

I trotted into the nearest stall, and did what I came in for.

Unlike Jeremy's thought I was not attacked by anything as I headed toward The Alley. Something did go wrong, though. When I got there I didn't see anyone there. I sensed that something must be wrong. I slowly crept into The Alley. I started sniffing.

I could smell that recently my gang had been here. I didn't smell any blood, but there was something not human in this mix. There was the smell of wolf. I rarely actually used my nose. For some reason it really hurt my head, and I only used it when I had no other choice.

Suddenly I heard as wolves' paws fell on the concrete. I whirled, and raised all my, now wolf, fur. I slowly backed into near shadows.

A bunch of wolves patted in. I took in my enemy. The lead wolf was a startling white. I'd never seen such a pure white, even if I could see that he had dirt on his fur, and beautiful golden eyes. He seemed quite big.

Two wolves were right behind him, and walking so close that their shoulders were touching. A beautiful black wolf with blue eyes was looking over lovingly at a really heavy set reddish brown wolf. I really didn't get puppy love.

Lastly was a smaller male wolf. He was sniffing loudly and looking around. He was a brown and white wolf. His tail was wagging rapidly.

The smaller brown wolf's head suddenly shot up, "Tsume!" Before I realized it the smaller wolf had leapt on me, and was covering me in licks. I was horrified. I let out a snarl, and sank my teeth into his front paw.

He ripped back in surprise, and the white wolf leapt forward and let out a deep growl. The smaller wolf lowered his head, and backed away. I've never seen a wolf look so hurt.

"Tsume," the small wolf whimpered, "Why'd you bite me?" I was so confused. I was positive that I'd never met these wolves before. I'd remember a wolf that white. I raised my head and let out a deep growl.

The heavy set red wolf started letting out a whine. I've never seen wolves so confused before.

"Tsume," the white wolf growled gently, "It's us. We didn't mean to surprise you. Come on, man." I lowered my head, and let out a deep growl. They had to be trying to distract me while some other wolf attacked me from behind.

The smaller wolf got on his belly, and started moving towards me, "Tsume," his voice sounded pretty pathetic, "Please, you have to remember me. It's me, Toeboy." What a strange name…I glanced down at my paw as I remembered the name I wrote on my arm. Toeboy. "That's Kiba, that's Hige, that's Blue, and we need to go get Cheza." This must be a practical joke. Jeremy must have told them about what I wrote on my arms, and now he was teasing me.

Then I realized that I had messed up. Jeremy didn't know about wolves. I snarled deeply as the little wolf got closer to me. He slowly raised his head to look at me with those pitiful light brown eyes. Something about those eyes made me feel sad and nervous.

I snarled right into his face, but he didn't move away.

The white wolf, Kiba, rose into human form, "Do you not remember us? Cheza warned us this might happen. Apparently something with your reformation." He pointed to his blonde hair, "I changed a little too. See? My hair is blonde."

I honestly didn't even know or care about what color his hair was. He was a handsome man, but I had a strange thought that he would look better with dark hair.

The others went human. I witnessed that indeed the dark wolf was a very beautiful girl. She had dark skin and light eyes. Her boyfriend looked like a total joker. He was heavy set, wearing sweatshirt, goofy grin, and freckles. Despite this her eyes were full of love. It was kind of gross.

The wolf that was right under my jaws changed too. A boy with light brown and reddish hair, and on a thinner side laid under me. I was a little surprised. He was pretty handsome. In a way that if he grew out his hair, he could pass off as a girl.

He was, also, a little too close for my comfort. I stepped back a little.

"Toboe," the wolf named Blue spoke softly, "If Cheza is right then Tsume doesn't remember us at all. You need to move away from him just until we get him to listen us."

"Tsume won't hurt me," Toboe said stubbornly, "He is still connected to us." I felt like I had lost track of this conversation. Cheza, another name written unconsciously on my arm, was, like, some kind of oracle, I was supposed to know these people, and this little wolf thought I was a boy.

Toeboe turned those pitiful eyes onto me, "Please Tsume. Tell me that you haven't forgotten about us." I looked at the fellow teens one more time, and I didn't recognize them.

I stepped back into the shadows, and then walked back out.

"Look," I said holding my hands out, "I honestly think you have the wrong person." There was a stunned silence.

Hige's mouth dropped open, "You have a chest!" I glanced down at my chest, and back at him.

"You have a girlfriend!" I said in mock surprise then I rolled my eyes, "And thank you. I have a great first impression of you. There is a word we use to describe people like you. Pervert. Now look, I'm obviously not the person you're looking for, so scram. I have a crime to commit in a few hours."

Kiba walked up and looked in my eyes, "Are you Tsume?"

I stared at him for a moment, "I don't know why, but your face really pisses me off."

"That's defiantly Tsume;" Kiba said flatly, "No one else in this entire world is able to be that annoying, insulting, and self-centered in so few seconds. Now being a girl is going to take some getting used to."

"Getting used to?" I asked suspiciously, "Wait are you going to….leave now!" These wolves sounded like the planned on suddenly hanging around me. "What are you looking at?" I asked at the boy lying on his back looking like he was about to choke on his own spit.

Blue chuckled, "Surprised Toboe? Cause so am I." I looked over at the female wolf that had slowly made her way towards me, "Kiba? Are you sure that that is Tsume. I mean, it's a girl. Maybe they just look alike."

Kiba turned to look at her, "And just have the same exact fur coloring, eye coloring, and same shaped scar in the same place? It has to be him…her, this is going to take some getting used to."

"But she's…pretty," she said walking over and looking at me, "What if Hige falls in love with her?"

Hige, who had been drooling at my appearance, suddenly leapt on her, and they rolled around in a heap of fur and teeth.

"Talk about puppy love," I muttered, "That is so sweet I could throw up."

I looked down at the startled wolf below me, "How long are you just going to lay there?" I asked. I was a little unnerved. "And you, Kiba, I will say for the last time that you have the wrong person." I started to walk away before I turned around. "Oh, there's an asylum a few doors down. Go down there and tell your story around. They'll politely ask you to stay a while."

I was feeling pretty good about myself until, a few streets away, I realized that Toboe was still following me.

I stopped as I was about to turn onto the street to my house and turned around, "Can I help you?"

The boy looked shocked that I'd seen him, but he came forward and stood right beside me, "Umm Tsume…"

"Akuma," I corrected, "I go by Akuma."

"Demon," he said softly, "Umm, it suits you."

"Thanks, I think," I glanced at the nervous boy. He was rather my age or a little younger than me. He didn't seem like he was the most mature so he must be younger, but he was taller than me, so he must be not that much younger, "Look I'm sorry you have the wrong wolf. I hope you meet your wolf, but I'm not very patient, so scram."

He slid in front of me, but the way he was holding his head he didn't look like he wanted a fight, in fact, he looked down right scared, "Let me explain why I think you are our wolf. If you hear me out, and still don't want to come then that's up to you, and you won't have to see us again unless you seek us out."

"And if I just walk away now?"

"I'll follow you around until you do hear me out," Toboe said looking up with a slight determined glint in his eyes, "In my past life Tsume and I were the closest. I'm not losing that bond." Past life, huh? This wolf is so insane, but having him follow me around didn't seem like such a fun thing.

I sighed and looked at my watch, "Well, school has already started, and I'm already in a lot of trouble for skipping my first three hours, so why not just skip the rest?" Toeboy looked at me as if he wasn't too sure, "That means it's a date."

The brown wolf looked, well to put it simply, completely horrified, "A date?"

"I don't mean literally!" I was actually blushing. How the heck did he mess up my words, and think I was asking him out, "I meant that I'll go with you. Geez, what cave did you grow up in?"

Toboe tilted his head to the side, "Well, it was actually a cozy one." At my shocked my expression, he grinned, "I'm kidding."


	3. Chapter 3

The club kept up an amazingly lively beat. The entire tightly enclosed space was filled with barely clothed teens dancing dangerously close to each other. Despite barely wearing any clothes in this club you had to cover your face with a mask.

I had a mask of a dragon on. It was a stunning black dragon with golden eyes, and shining silver horns. I was wearing a shining silver tank top that was always shining and glittering and dark ripped jeans.

Toboe had been telling me his story of seeking paradise while trying to talk over the loud music. I'd been listening while watching some of the dance offs that occurred.

He was in a pair of jeans and wearing a V-neck black t-shirt. He had, now that I looked, some well-defined muscles. He had a white cat mask on. It was insanely cute. When I asked him to pick out a mask, I had expected him to be wearing something fierce, and he showed up with a cat. He'd been hit on by a few girls, but he seemed so terrified that I'd given him an alibi. He was my boyfriend, and I wouldn't hand him over to anyone.

It's not like I cared. I wouldn't see him anymore after this night, so he could be my fake date. He, also, kept the guys off of me.

"So," Toboe asked after explaining his death, "The rest you'll have to talk to the others. I can tell you what they told me, but it won't be as accurate." He leaned towards me, touching the beer that had been served to us, "Aren't we under aged?"

"Wow," I said with a roll of my eyes and held out my untouched beer, "A wolf that actually cares. Anyhow, at this club you can do anything."

"What do you mean?" Toboe asked looking at the dance floor.

I tapped my mask, "Some of these kids I recognize from school. They are nerds, pimple faced, and some have amazing reputations that can't be stained. Here, no one knows who you are. You can do what you want, and not have to pay the consequences."

Toboe seemed to mull over this, "Now I see why you made me get a mask. I thought you were insane."

"Speaking of insane," I said, "How do I know that your story rings true, and you are not insane?" I leaned against the bar counter, "I mean past lives, sure I can deal with that, paradise, I mean its sounds believable, but a noble wolf, a flower maiden, and scientists, I can't believe that."

"Why is that the part you are having trouble believing in?" Toboe asked as he tried to discretely lap up a glass of water.

I leaned back, "Well, from what you tell me it seems that the past is the future. The technology that they used is more advanced than what we use now. Also, wolves have it hard now, but we aren't that rare."

Toboe tilted his head to the side, "You know, that doesn't make sense does it? We'll have to ask Cheza about that." I stretched my arms. I was starting to wonder why they wanted to ask Cheza so many things. To me it seemed that Cheza was a slight airhead.

"Alright, it's time to leave. My spine feels like it's been reshaped into a triangle." I got off the stool, and he followed suit. It was actually hard to navigate through the twisting bodies. There were a few moments where I lost Toboe, and I had to wait for him to catch up.

He was quite easy to find. White wasn't the most common color for masks, and it was easy to relocate him. However, my black mask was quite common, and it was amusing to watch him try to sniff me out. After losing me three times, he grabbed my elbow.

"Lead me out of this, please." Considering how stressed he looked, I brought him to the door safely, and to my car. He let go of my elbow and took a deep breath, "That was way to stuffy. I like the fresh air of the great open spaces much more."

"I'm more of a city wolf myself," I said breathing in the smoky air, "I'm most comfortable here."

I felt Toboe look at me for a long while before he said, "You know you are the same Tsume. That Tsume came with us no matter what kept him. Even if he and Kiba got into a huge fight he'd come with us."

I let out a breath, and let it float towards the sky, "You can't compare me to your Tsume forever, you know?" I turned and smiled, "I happen to be slightly different than _him._ While I will admit that there are some similarities like our distrust of others, but there are some major differences."

"Besides gender?" Toboe asked.

"Well, that is a big one," I said with a smile, "But I'm content here. I like it here. I don't feel a need to run off to find paradise."

Toboe gave a shrug, "Well, I told you my story, and as promised I will disappear from sight until you seek us out. However, we have paradise to find. We will stay here for one more night before we begin our search." Toboe gave me a single sheet of paper that had a hotel's name written on it.

"If we aren't here," Toboe said simply, "Then you'll have a heck of a time finding us." I rolled my eyes, and slid into the front seat of my car. I glanced back only once to see a wolf disappear down the busy streets. From what I could hear, giving people quite a scare.

After a fifteen minute drive, I pulled into my house's driveway. The house was huge. I'm sure half a rain forest was cut down just to build it. I think it was meant to be the miniature version of the white house.

I closed my car's door as quietly as possible. I opened the front door. From what my eyes could see through the dark, my foster mother was passed out on the floor in front of the T.V. I could see empty beers all over the coffee table.

What concerned me was that I couldn't smell my foster father in the living room with her. His stench was worse than hers. Then my eyes fell onto his figure sitting at the dinner table. I could see the half empty beer bottle in his hands.

I suddenly ducked as the bottle flew at my head. It sailed into the nearest wall.

"The school called," he said with a slurred voice, "They said that you completely ditched. Do you know how that looks on us?" He suddenly slammed his hands on the table, and I was gone, up the stairs and in my room. I almost closed the door on my tail, I was going so fast.

My foster family really tested my patience. I would completely rip them apart if they weren't careful. There were many people who believed that I was a tamed wolf. I did hold back from killing people, I did go to school, but it was because I was laid back, not because I was tame.

I laid down on my bed after locking my door. The window, now opened, blew heavy air into my room. After spending time with Toboe, I wondered what fresh air smelled like. I pulled the paper out of my pocket, and stared at it.

I memorized it within few moments. A wolf's memory was very good. I knew where this hotel was. Well, I knew where the alley they said they were sleeping in that was besides the hotel. These wolves defiantly were country wolves.

The type of wolves that had to be outside no matter what. They were fun, but they had zero street smarts. The alley behind there was a famous pack's territory. They were famous for being cruel, and forcibly stealing female wolves.

Blue hadn't been the most friendly wolf ever, but she had called me pretty. I laid there for a little while. I didn't matter to me if they did something stupid and paid for it. If I stuck my neck out for them I'd wouldn't get anything in return. I wasn't going.

Even after thinking of this I had a hard time getting to sleep. My thoughts went constantly to the strange pack. Something about them being in danger really disturbed me. If, and I mean if, Toeboy was telling the truth about my past life then did that mean they were my pack?

A wolf would never leave her pack. My hand slowly went to my scar, okay, maybe some wolves could.

I'd finally fallen asleep when I was woken up as a bottle of beer smashed into my leg. My eyes flew open, and a huge growl ripped from my chest. I sat on the stomach of my frightened foster father. I knew that my paws were crushing the breath from chest, but I was cranky about being woken up.

"Werewolf," he muttered in his drunken state, "I knew you were a werewolf! The howling in your sleep, the yelping in pain, the eating of raw meat!"

I gave a huff. Drool dripped off my fangs onto his neck. I took a step back. My father reacted within moments, and I took a broken bottle to the head. I rolled off of him, and leapt to my feet. The hit to the head, for some odd reason, made my back leg hurt. When he'd hit it with a bottle it had cut pretty deep.

I could see a broken piece of glass in it. I lowered myself to the ground, and waited. My foster father was swinging the bottle around, and screaming. Finally he stopped. When I saw the opening I leapt. I don't know if it was the impact of his head against the floor, or the bottle, somehow he fell on it and it pierced him between the shoulders, that killed him.

I gave a slight bark. It was supposed to wake him up, but I knew he was dead. I spent so much time as a human that sometimes I forgot that I was a wolf that looked like a human, not a human that looked like a wolf.

I slowly backed away from the dead body.

What was I going to do now? No matter what happened I would be blamed for his death. I would then go to jail. A wolf, as many know, goes insane behind bars. We bit and kill anything that comes near after two months.

If that happened the world would know of the wolves' secrets. As I was wracking my brain for a way out Toboe's forgotten piece of paper caught my attention. I slowly picked it up. I weighed my options. I could just run for it, and live in some remote forest. Then I realized that I had no idea how to hunt anything that wasn't already dead.

I could completely ditch my human form, and find a pack in a faraway neighborhood. There were plenty of murderers in those packs. However, there was a possibility that I would be forced to marry the alpha wolf no matter what he looked like or how old he was.

If that wasn't an option then I could go with the insane pack. I mean they seemed to like me. They had apparently searched for me for three weeks before finding me, and they were prepared to keep on searching for me.

Toboe had been fun hanging out with. Blue and Hige were cute together even if they were in total puppy lovers, and they seemed pretty loyal. Kiba still pissed me off. He was kind of cute, though.

I was slightly horrified with my train of thought. Then I realized that I could think he was cute, but that doesn't mean I like him. Toeboy was cute. Jeremy was cute. I didn't like them either. Despite what people said, I was not dating Jeremy. We hung out together, but we didn't like each other like that.

Jeremy, I thought suddenly, what would that idiot do without me? He hung on me like scared puppy. I don't know when or why he started hanging out with me. He was probably a worse of kid then I was.

He didn't even have a foster family. He lived in friend's places when people started getting suspicious about the kid that hung around the old abandoned house. I stayed in this city just so he could crash at my place.

I didn't think of him as a friend, but he is my responsibility.

I shoved the paper in my pocket. I gave a glance at the dead man, and leapt out my window. Sure I was on the third floor, but when you're a wolf, that's nothing. I landed with a thump. I decided, on a whim, to leave my car.

I wasn't attached to it, and only took it when I had to. I liked walking to school. A secret was that I got insanely motion sick. I could run, but trains, cars, planes, and buses made my stomach roll. I, also, figured that if my car was here along with all of my stuff that they might think that I was kidnapped.

The only thing I brought with me was my bag. In there I actually had a bunch of money, my trusty pistol, some poison, don't ask, knives, and a single change of clothes. They were pretty amazing cool.

No one knew I had this bag. I used it in tight situations. It stayed under my bed at all times. I picked it up in my jaws, and went to search out Jeremy. I didn't know what I was going to tell him, where we were going to go, or what I was going to do, but I figured we'd do it together.

My first guess was at the abandoned house down by the tracks. I made my way there completely as a wolf. It took slightly longer than normal, because after my head cleared from my killer intent, the pain in my leg came into view. I couldn't put weight on it, but the pain was bearable. It didn't occur to me that taking out the glass would be a good idea.

It was so dark out by now that no one knew the difference between a dog and a wolf, so I made my way without being chased by animal control.

I came to the house and couldn't smell anyone there. I jumped up a floor, and balanced myself against the window pane. I jumped through the window, and landed with a soft thump. I sniffed around, but didn't smell Jeremy in this room. Finding him was important, and I could deal with the headache easily.

This house was pretty big, and Jeremy probably hadn't explored all of it. I trotted out the door, and continued down the hallway. I didn't find Jeremy, but I did find a hobo. In the last room, I found Jeremy's room.

It was not at all what I had expected. It was pretty fancy. I mean, I knew Jeremy stole a lot, but this was insane. He had flat screen , stereos, jewelry, and tons of books. That wasn't what concerned me.

The hundreds of pictures of me were what bothered me. There were pictures of me from every angle. The only thing that was reassuring was that there weren't any pictures of me, well, naked. I walked around a little, and to my surprise found about fifteen pictures of myself in wolf form.

"He knows?" I whispered in surprise. Suddenly I was seriously mad. I'd been trying to keep it a secret for such a long time, and he knew? I whirled around, and ripped the pillow off of his bed. I'd been trying to respect his privacy, and hadn't imprinted his scent, but that was all over.

He smelled of sweat, dirt, cheap colon, and something else that reminded me of roses. I closed my eyes and let the scent fill me. Now when a wolf imprints a smell it's like something that's a part of us, like another limb.

Suddenly I could smell his freshest scent. I ran after it. It led me down the stairs, out the door, and down the tracks. I followed it at an uncatchable pace. I came to a busy cross walk, and changed into a human.

I looked around and in surprise I realized where I was. I was across from where Toeboy and his pack were sleeping. For a moment I thought Jeremy must be here to see them, but then common sense took hold.

He probably had a lover in the hotel. I wanted to think that, but I knew better. Someone who knew about me being a wolf had to know about a new pack in town. That was huge news. I slowly made my way to the mouth of the alley.

There stood a huge black wolf, standing over a bleeding white wolf, and sinking his teeth into a struggling Blue. I could smell that the huge black wolf was Jeremy. I gasped in surprise. Jeremy swung his head to look at me.

A single blue and golden eye stared in surprise at my appearance. Toboe stared at me with the blood gushing into one of his eyes. I was at a cross roads.

"Jeremy," I called. Toboe swung his head to look at me. Something close to betrayal in his eyes. The pang of hurt that stabbed through my heart made everything so clear.

Jeremy dropped Blue and turned his scared eyes on me, "Akuma." He whimpered, "This isn't…"

I lowered my head and locked eyes with him, and my shoulder hunched forward with all the gray fur standing straight up, "Lay off my pack."


	4. Chapter 4

The large wolf released Blue into a bloody heap, and turned his eyes onto me. In those eyes no malice shone, but almost an uneasy fear danced across his familiar blue eye, and unfamiliar golden one.

"Akuma," Jeremy said, lowering his head very slowly, "This is not your pack. Do not listen to their lies! You are mine." Normally I would have believed Jeremy, my longtime companion, over the insane pack, but he made the massive mistake of saying I was his. I belonged to nobody.

I threw my head to the side, "Akuma, leader of the gang Rival, belongs to nobody, and those who believe otherwise are doomed to rot forever in Hell." I lowered my head to the point that it nearly touched the rough concrete, "As a demon, let me help you find your way down under."

I sped forward towards him. Jeremy backed away, but was not able to get out of under my pounce. My paws landed with such force that his entire body was slammed into the ground with a crack, and my teeth sank into the side of his neck.

He let out a pained whine, and bucked sideways. I was a pretty large wolf myself, easily towering over males twice my age, but I was surprised to find that Jeremy even towered over me. I was easily sent into the nearest wall.

I hit hard, but I was on my paws in seconds. Jeremy whirled away from me, and took a few hasty jumps away, but, while he was bigger than me, he was slower than me. My cruel fangs raked across his muzzle.

I landed, and gave a wolfy grin, as I wiped his fur away from my teeth on my furry shoulder. My tail swished excitedly. This was a fight. Jeremy was shaking his head so hard that his feet where being taken along.

As he struggled to get the blood out of his nose and mouth, I glanced around. Kiba was trying to get back on his feet, but it looked like he could not stand. Blue had not moved, but I could see her shredded sides breathing.

Hige was crawling towards her, and was whining. Toeboy was still on his feet, but it was clear that he couldn't see through the blood in his face.

Geez, I thought and turned a weary eye onto the readying Jeremy, he's strong. He did major damage to four wolves, and the only damage done to him looked like a well-placed bite mark on his right paw.

Jeremy stopped shaking, "I will not fight you. I lost you once, I will not do it again."

"Past life?" I growled lowering myself into a crouch, "With them it's just funny. With you, it's just sad." Jeremy slowly titled his head up. One second he was not moving an inch, and the next second he slammed his head into the bottom of mine.

I was thrown backward. I laid on the ground for a moment as I willed for the world to stop spinning. Jeremy put his paw on my shoulder, and growled deeply into my ear. I bared my teeth in response.

"You'll be mine," Jeremy growled, "Forever this time." Jeremy turned, and shot out of the alley. I slowly pushed myself to my paws, and slowly drug myself towards the wolves.

"You guys suck at fighting," I growled shaking myself, and licking my bloody fangs, "I'm surprised you aren't all dead."

Kiba raised himself up, and gave an angry snarl, "You didn't beat him either. He just went easy on you." Kiba looked as if he wanted to say more, but as he was about to the sound of human screaming tore into my ears.

Kiba jumped to his feet, and fell back over, "He's in the hotel?"

"It appears so." I said. What an odd place to run off too, I thought.

Hige looked up with pitiful eyes, "He's after Cheza."

Kiba tried to get back to his feet, but his hind legs gave out, and he slid back to the ground. He whined, "I hate to do this, but Tsume, go save Cheza. She's in room 301. He'll kill her."

"If I travel with you am I going to be doing everything?" I snarled, and turned around taking after Jeremy. I couldn't explain it, but I'd never, this may sound bad, had this much fun. I was finally being challenged, pressured, and even hurt.

I slammed into the hotel in human form. I figured last minute that a human would call less attention than a wolf. I spilled the contents of a suitcase that belonged to a sunburnt couple, and had them cuss loudly at me. I didn't have time to apologize.

I ran straight for the elevator. The huge caution signs made my slid to a stop.

**Caution: Elevator under repair. Do not come within ten feet. **I curled my lips in frustration. I whipped my head around, and shot up the nearest stairway. I wished I was in wolf form because half of my weight was on my back leg that was still bleeding.

I didn't slow my pace to favor my leg. I had this strange feeling that I would even be upset if this Cheza girl died. I realized that she was the important flower maiden, but it was something deeper than that.

I started taking the stairs two then three at a time. Suddenly I came to the third floor. I didn't know if it was the right floor, but I was guessing by the sight of the two dead humans in the hall that Jeremy had been here.

I took off down the long hallway. I didn't have to check the room numbers because I was guessing that the girl hanging over Jeremy's shoulder must be Cheza.

"Jeremy!" I roared. Jeremy looked over her shoulder, and took off. I charged after him. I didn't know where he was going. With Cheza over his shoulder he wouldn't be able to beat me down the stairs, he wasn't stupid enough to jump down into the below street, and the elevator was broken.

I took a ninety degree corner so fast that I slid into the wall. My leg screamed in protest. I took the corner, and stopped.

Jeremy was standing in front of the elevator. Apparently, he hadn't noticed it was broken.

"End of the line," I growled heavily, "Hand her over." At the sound of my voice the girl looked up. Toeboy had described her but I was not prepared for this. Her eyes were almost a bloody red, she had whitish hair, and she was really pale.

"This one recognizes the one called Tsume." She pointed at herself then me as she spoke. She is a weirdo, I thought with a surprising amount of affection. Jeremy looked around quickly.

"You can't out run me," I said baring my teeth, and taking a testing step forward to see his reaction, "Jeremy, I don't want to kill you, but I will if I have to."

Jeremy smiled, and ran his free hand through his shaggy black hair, "You can't kill me. We were meant to be together." He backed away from me. As he continued to back away, I became aware of something.

He was backing up straight into an empty elevator shaft of an hotel where we were standing third floor that also had a basement. He'd survive the fall, but, from Toeboy has told me, Cheza wouldn't.

"Jeremy, don't even think about it," I said stopping, "If you even…" I leapt forward as Jeremy leapt backwards.

I sank my teeth into the back of Cheza's shirt, and dug my back paws in to keep myself from falling forward with them into the empty shaft. If it had just been Cheza, I would have easily been able to pull her to safety, but Jeremy had his teeth into the pant of her leg, and was thrashing around wildly. Every time Jeremy swung, a little bit more of Cheza's shirt was ripped out of my mouth.

Cheza was remaining remarkably calm despite her predicament. I suddenly ripped my head up, and used her upward movement to get a better grab on her shirt. I knew that my teeth grazed her back, but she didn't act as if it hurt.

A whine ripped from my throat as my back leg started shaking. I tried to get my front paws under me, but they kept slipping in my own blood. Had I not been in a very desperate situation, I would have been thoroughly freaked out. Someone else's blood was okay, but mine wasn't.

Cheza turned and looked up at me with her red eyes, "You are in pain. You can drop me now." I gave a snort. Yup, I thought, definitely a weirdo. Jeremy gave a violent rip, and only the smallest part of her shirt was in my mouth.

I winced. I knew that I couldn't hold onto her any longer. I made a decision. I released my teeth, and Cheza fell.


	5. Chapter 5

Cheza finally reacted the way any supernatural flower maiden should. She let out this strange scream that sounded like a hundred wolves' hearts breaking. She put her hands in front of her face as if that would make the incoming floor disappear.

Finally, I caught up with her. I grabbed the back of her shirt, and flipped her on top of me. Obviously thinking I was the ground, Cheza gave a shriek.

I rolled my eyes, and I slammed into the ground. Being a wolf couldn't stop the insane pain. It felt like I was bleeding from my eyes, ears, and mouth. I couldn't see anything, I couldn't hear much, and what I could hear was muffled, and I couldn't breathe.

I clenched my teeth, and pushed myself up to my paws. It was a slow process for my stomach threatened to spill its contents if I moved to fast.

"This one thinks Tsume is not sane," Cheza said from where she had bounced off of me, and rolled a few yards away, "But that one's insanity saved this one's life. This one thanks you." I blinked, but continued to work on my standing.

I wasn't used to being thanked. Okay, so I never did anything to be thanked for, but it was still a nice feeling. My back leg had reached such an enormous amount of pain, that I could no longer feel it, which was probably a good thing.

I limped over to Cheza, and grabbed her strange looking boots in my mouth. They tasted like a hospital. I pulled her, on her back, out into the basement.

"This one can walk." Cheza pointed out, but as I didn't let her go, she fell into a thoughtful silence. The basement was a spooky place, and I was worried that Jeremy was going to jump out at us from behind the piles of dusty boxes.

Luckily, there were no more stairs. I found an employee emergency elevator. I wasn't an employee, but it was an emergency. I pulled Cheza into the corner of the elevator, and dropped her foot. I pushed the lobby button, and shed my wolf form.

"Tsume is not the same," Cheza said standing up, and looking at me, "Tsume is not a he but a she like this one." She pointed to her chest. I knocked her hand away for the elevator door was opening, and I would enough explaining to do about our appearance, and didn't feel the need to explain anything else.

I turned to Cheza, "Just walk after me, and don't say anything." Cheza nodded, and her bobbed haircut bounced. She held her hand out to me. I looked at it, and gave a growl of impatience.

"This one gets lost," she said, "very easily." I looked up through my bloody bangs, and grabbed her hand. I tried not to crush it into a million pieces. I wouldn't mean to, but this would be my first time holding someone's hand, and it didn't help that Cheza had the air that she broke easily.

As we stepped off the elevator, I met an interesting scene. People were freaking out. The person at the desk had long fled, and any of the guest that had stayed were grabbing what they could as a weapon.

"Don't freak out," I growled under my breath, but Cheza just looked curious about what was going on, "Don't look anyone in the eye." That advise didn't need to be given. Those who looked, looked at me. My leg was still bleeding, I'm sure I'm going to die of blood loss soon, and the entire leg was this ugly purple color. My limp was very obvious.

Both my arms were scratched up, and there was a stream of blood running from my mouth from the impact with the ground.

"Are you okay?" an employee asked rushing over to us, "I'll call an amubalance!" The nervous looking man stammered, and turned to go get a phone.

I shook my head slowly, "My companion is going to drive me to the hospital, but thanks." The employee turned to look at Cheza who was acting like a total airhead, and exaiming a little cut on her hand.

"Are you sure?" the man asked looking at her then my bloody appearance.

"Thank you," I said gently, "But we can manage." The man nodded, and with a doubtful glance backwards before shooting towards another pair of guests.

"This one can't drive?" Cheza said curiously. I pulled her along behind me. I slowly pushed the door open with my shoulder, and met with something even scarier than Jeremy; stairs. I winced, and took them one at a time. It was a painfully slow process.

It didn't help that Cheza ran ahead of me, and, I'm sure she was trying to help, started trying to pull me down faster. I finally got down the stairs, and led Cheza into the alley. Her nostrils flared, and she darted towards Kiba.

"Cheza!" he growled happily, and put his big head on her lap. She made soothing noises, and rubbed his head.

I leaned against the wall for a moment to catch my breath, and looked around. Blue was resting on Hige, and he was trying to make a call. I didn't think these hick like wolves even knew how to use phones, I thought.

Toeboe came to me, "Are you okay?" He had stopped bleeding, and had a shirt wrapped around his forehead making him look like an insane person.

"Me?" I asked with a sneer, "It'll take a little more than some black wolf to take me out. It's all of you guys I'm worried about." I slowly slid down to my side, and pinned my ears back, "So, I'm guessing that was Darcia?"

Toeboe sat down next to me, and eyed my back leg as if he was thinking of licking it, "Yes. How do you know him?"

I didn't answer him. Not because I was embarrassed, but because I was honestly too tired to even think straight. So far today I've been mugged, took a swim, meet insane wolves, went to a club, killed my foster father, found out my responsibility was a stalker, fought the stalker, and jumped down an empty elevator shaft. I was dead tired.

Kiba rolled one of his golden eyes to me, "Thank you." He said this as if it physically hurt him. I grunted in response. Toeboe moved his head forward towards my leg. I clicked my teeth together in warning. Toeboe lowered his ears, and scooted away from me.

Hige looked up, "She's on her way. She also says hi. Well, she that's not exactly what she said. Apparently something about us being idiots." Hige winced, and reached down to stroke the resting Blue.

"She?" I said, thinking that I hadn't written anyone else's names on my arms, "Who is this she?"

"Oh," Hige looked up, "You mean Cher? She's a vetish type, human, person for us wolves. She, also, like adopted us in a way." Hige grinned, and returned to his wolf form to curl up against Blue.

"You guys rely on humans?" I asked is surprise, "Why not just use another wolf?"

Toeboe stopped licking his front paw, "She's cool even if she's a human. She's going to beat us, though." He said looking over their wounded pack.

I grunted, and with all the strength I had left, I rolled to my stomach, and reached my head back in attempt to grab the shard of glass that was _still _in there. I was able to get my teeth over it twice, but when I pulled my teeth just slipped off.

I laid on my side with a sigh.

"I am going to beat you all!" a blonde woman said rushing into the alley. I instinctively pinned my ears back, but I had a strange feeling that this was Cher.

Hige frowned, "I just called you. How are you already here?"

Cher leaned down next to Blue who she apparently deemed in the worst condition, "I figured something was up when I looked on my TV and saw the headlines, 'Wolf creates havoc in local hotel.' I figured something had gone wrong."

She put her hand on Blue's sides, "She's in bad condition, but she's been in worse. At the rate you wolves heal, I guess she'll be fine by morning. Hige bring her to the van." It was clear that Hige hadn't been really hurt in the fight, but probably just taken off guard.

Hige picked her up in his arms, and carried her to the van.

Cher went to Kiba next, "Cheza," she said gently, "You're going to move." Cheza slid over to the white wolf's side. Hmmm, I thought curiously, I don't remember the stuck up Kiba having a girlfriend in Toeboe's stories.

Cher rolled her eyes, "Kiba, how many times are going to break those same three ribs before you learn?" Kiba gave a wolfy grin.

"One more time." He growled. I noticed that Cher didn't seem to understand us. That was good. I'd had enough surprises for a life time, and if a human spoke wolf, I was going to have to crawl into a hole, and just die.

Kiba got his bill of health, and changed human, so Cheza could help him to the van. Ohh, I thought sarcastically, where was that strength when we were falling down the elevator.

Cher came over to Toeboe.

"As always," she said fondly, "You've already stopped the bleeding. That's my good boy." To my horror, Toeboy leaped up, and licked her like a dog. It wasn't romantically. I could handle that. This was like he was some mutt of the streets.

"Let's go," she said to Toeboe, "We need to leave before the police show up."

"Wait!" Toeboe said jumping up in human form, "What about Tsume?"

"We'll find him later," Cher said impatiently, "But right now we need to go."

Toeboy walked to me, and pointed down, "We already found Tsume. She's hurt too."

Cher blinked and walked over to me. When she saw me she smiled. I bared my teeth, and just dared her to touch me.

"Tsume?" she said curiously.

"Touch me," I said licking my bloody lips, "I'll rip you to shreds."

"Holy mother of Jesus!" Cher yelped jumping back, "You're a girl!" I was starting to really hate that reaction. It was going to bother me if everyone I met did that. The look of surprise melted away, as her eyes fell onto my leg. "Your leg!" she shouted nearly as loud.

I growled loudly, but she just grabbed my leg like my fangs didn't exist. She ran her hand over the wound.

"Hey!" I snapped, "Don't…OUCH!" I growled.

"Stay human," Cher advised, "Wow, what did you do?" she demanded looking up angrily.

"Ran miles on a wound with glass in it, and then plummeted one hundred feet onto a concrete floor." I said with a fanged smile. I'd expected her to be impressed. I was not prepared for her to slap my wound, "Ouch! What was that for you old hag?"

"For being stupid, you….it brat!" She closely surveyed the wound, "I think I just slapped the glass in deeper." She said thoughtfully. I clenched my teeth. She was so lucky I was so tired that even ripping her throat didn't seem possible, "I don't think I should have done that."

"You think?" I snapped, "Anyway, I think you were in a hurry. Something with police?"

"Right!" Cher said standing up, "I'll apply treatment later, but for God's sake, stop the bleeding at least. I sometimes don't think you wolves realize that you need blood." Toeboe glanced over at me, and reached down as if he was going to pick me up. I gave a growl, and hoisted myself up. "What are you doing?" Cher asked. "Toeboe pick her up!"

Toeboe looked at me, and then back to Cher, "She'll bite me." He whimpered.

"Pick her up!" Cher demanded as sirens were heard in the distance, "And if she bites you, I will remove all of her teeth, and wear them as a necklace." My tail dropped, and I looked over at Toeboe waiting for him to pick me up. This woman kind of scared me.

Toeboy leaned down, and slipped his hands under my stomach. I whimpered in pain.

"Sorry," Toeboy said, and leaned me against his chest. This was so humiliating. Toeboe walked steadily towards the van with my blood dripping down the front of him, "God, you're big for a female wolf." I growled my thanks thinking that this was a compliment.

Toeboe ducked into the van, and we got some very strange looks. Kiba bared his teeth in a mocking smile, and both Hige and Blue pushed their heads together in a cute manner. I bared my teeth at them.

Toeboy set me down in the corner.

"Drive now, Hubb!" Cher yelled, "We are kind of in a hurry here." Cher jumped in behind us, "God, that man can't hurry for anything. That's why I divorced him. Now Tsume let's see that back leg of yours."

I bared my teeth, but against the woman completely ignores me, and sits down next to my leg. I change into a human so she can inspect my leg. I didn't realize I was still against Toeboe, and that now I was literally laying in his lap.

I didn't have a problem with it, because I wasn't doing it to be romantic, but to have a huge piece of bloody glass removed from my purple and blue leg, but Toeboe was turning quite red. I decided to ignore him.

Cheza left Kiba, and sat down next to Cher, "This one saved this one's life," Cheza said stroking my stomach, and, I will never admit this, but it felt pretty good, "This one broke this one's fall. This one would have died."

"Did she now?" Cher asked smiling, "Well it looks like Tsume is going to run with us once again. Ohh, how big is this piece of glass?" she asked. She pulled out a pair of tongs. "This is going to hurt a little bit." How bad could it hurt, I thought with a roll of my eyes, and then it ended up hurting so bad that I literally crushed Toeboe's hand in mine.

Everyone stared at the six inch piece of glass that was shimmering the light.

Cher turned to look at me, "That was in the bone, you stupid wolf. What is this anyways? Is this from a beer bottle."

I nodded, "My foster father whacked me with it."

"Well," Kiba said looking a little put out that Cheza was over with me, and not with him, "I hope you bit him."

I couldn't help, but wince, "Yeah. I kind of, accidently, totally didn't mean to… I killed him." No one else seemed to concerned, but Toeboe and Cher.

Cher just shook her head, and continued to examine my leg, "Well, let's just say if you weren't a wolf I would be taking this leg off. It should be fine in a couple of days. Follow my finger." I followed her finger which she zoomed through the air, "You reactions are fine. Alright we're all alive." The pack barked in agreement at that.

Cher looked at me, "Tsume, you don't look so good. I mean besides your leg."

I put my hand in front of my mouth, and threw up all over, "I get motion sick."


	6. Chapter 6

"Admit it," I snarled, panting heavily, "You're lost." The white wolf, that was supposed to be leading us, pinned his ears back, but said nothing. He lifted his nose to the air, and continued to sniff loudly. "In case you're thinking about taking your time, you do realize it's about one-hundred and ten degrees in this dessert right?"

Kiba walked in around in a circle. Apparently, the strange white flowers that had shone us the path to paradise had lost their scent. I could never smell the flowers, but, then again, I couldn't really smell anything.

My tongue was permanently stuck outside my mouth because we've been running in the heat all day, and it's really hot under all this fur. The climate change is so drastic that I'm shedding. All the stray fur keeps getting in my nose making me sneeze quite violently.

Blue lowered her head, "Lay of, Akuma! I'm sure we know exactly where we are." Blue had a strange disliking to me. I think she can't stand being replaced as hottest girl in the pack, or maybe it was that Hige and I got along really well now. I blame the heat because I've never gotten along with someone like him before.

"I think we should stop, and ask for directions!" I snapped, "We passed a town a few days back."

"We don't need directions!" Blue said raising her black fur, "Kiba knows exactly where we are!"

I twitched my nose in amusement, "We sound like an old married couple," I mused, and scratched a flea, I actually had fleas now, behind my ear, "The man is determined to figure out his own way, the woman knows they need directions, the man doesn't listen, they get lost, and they die!"

Kiba turned his gold eyes on me, "I'm tired," he said stiffly, "I'm having a hard time smelling the moon flowers. It would be helpful if you could actually smell the flowers." I lifted my lip. I didn't feel like explaining my smelling problems, so I just said that I couldn't smell the flowers. "Maybe we should take a break."

Toeboe yawned, "I agree. I'm really tired." I felt bad for Toeboe, because he was having a hard time keeping up with everyone. We were always at least ten lopes away from him. Cheza lounged across my back.

Kiba, and I have been taking turns carrying her. Toeboe was to small, Blue wasn't strong enough, and Hige was too heavy to carry her, and she couldn't keep up with us any other way.

We were going to just drive to paradise, but Cheza was against it. She said that Paradise was a place that you cannot drive to. You must run, she said, for Paradise is for those who face the perilous journey and survive. Sadly, she didn't keep the good speaking patterns, and went back to her strange way of speaking.

I was almost finishing my turn to carry her. She was really heavy despite her smallness.

Kiba looked around, "I think I see a cave over there." Kiba had amazing senses. He could easily out see me, out hear me, and out sense everything. The only bad thing was that his sense of taste was more acute, and he had a hard time eating some of the rancid meat I was able to easily down.

Cheza kicked me in the sides. She was confused between me and a horse. She even asked if she could put reins on me. I very violently refused the offer.

We pulled our weary selves towards the cave.

Toeboe walked by me, "My paws feel like they're about to fall off." Toeboe is having one of those days where he likes talking to me, "I can't imagine what you feel like." He seemed to measure the height difference between the two of us.

His head reached my lower jaw while in wolf form. The only thing probably saving his manly pride was that he was taller than me in human form.

"It's not that bad," I lied, "You get used to it." Cheza kicked me again in the ribs. "Well, I'm used to almost everything." I said looking back to her foot. I caught a glance at my sides. I've always been in good shapes, but now I was in amazing shape.

We'd been going for a week now. We'd wake up after a long day of running, and then go to sleep again. If we were lucky we'd have found something to eat along the way. I thought it would be problematic with Cheza since she didn't strike me as a girl that could handle eating rotting deer, but apparently she just had to be in the sun and drink water.

"This one is uncomfortable," Cheza said, "This one is not complaining, but stating a fact." I got the point anyways.

"We're almost there." I saw the cave that Kiba had been talking about. It was a circular entrance that was covered in dark shadows. I had to admit that it looked really comfy. "I'll admit, Kiba," Kiba turned around to see if I was going to snap at him, "You outdid yourself this time." The wolf couldn't help look a little pleased. It was hard to get a compliment out of me, but, hey, my brain was a little fried.

Our first step into the shade was like being kissed by ice. All of us gave a little shiver of pleasure, and breathed in the cold air.

Suddenly it happened, my nose started twitching out. I lowered my head, and itched it with my paw. It continued to twitch, and I felt like my head was about to explode. A gust of wind seemed to be running through my entire being.

It smelled of blood. I shook myself so violently that Cheza was thrown off, but Blue caught her in human form. "What's your problem?" she snapped. The smell got stronger, and I felt like I was drowning in blood.

"Blood," I managed to growl, "So much blood." I rolled to my side, and rubbed my nose against the ground.

Hige gave a nervous growl, but Blue snarled, "Stop trying to scare us. It's not funny." I whined again. My head felt like it was being pounded against with a bloody fist.

"I don't think she's faking," Toeboe said jumping to my side, and burying his nose into my neck. He started huffing loudly. "Her heart is pounding away."

Kiba chuckled deep in his throat, "It could be that you're nuzzling her." Through my blood filled being, I was still able to bear my teeth.

Toeboe snarled embarrassedly, "'My heart doesn't beat faster because of her."

Hige grumbled deeply, "We didn't say anything about your heart beating faster." I was too lost in the taste of blood to really understand what that meant.

Kiba chuckled again, "Yeah, we should get her out of the heat, and into the…" From the cave erupted a horrible growl. My body bucked in pain. The pain was going to make me go insane. "What was that?" he growled moving between the cave and Cheza.

In attempt to clear my head, I bit my paw. I was so lost in the rich blood that I couldn't even feel it.

Toeboe moved between me and the cave with his fur standing up, but I could see my brave savior's legs shaking.

"Blue," Hige said nervously, "I think we should leave." Hige tried to push the female away from the cave, but she did something that surprised me. She lowered her mouth, and grabbed the scruff of my neck.

She pulled backwards, and drug me an inch. Toeboe leapt beside her, and sank his teeth, quite painfully, into my back. He jerked roughly. I shook my head, and tried to get to my feet, but the cave roared again. I dropped to my side in pain again.

We could feel the ground shake around us in a way that oddly reminded me of footsteps. Kiba narrowed his eyes, and looked into the dark. His tail stuck straight up.

"We need to go now!" He looked around desperately, and realized that I wasn't about to walk, "You choose now to pass out?"

My wounded pride pushed back the blood, "I am not passed out." I growled heavily, "I'm drowning!" I know that doesn't make any sense, but it was the closest thing to explain what was happening.

I swiveled my head to the cave. Emerging from the cave was a moose. My entire body relaxed. For a moment I thought that we were about to face something truly dangerous. It was a moose. I'd read about them. They didn't even eat meat.

The moose walked out into the full light, and I realized that I was completely wrong. It was a strange looking moose, or at least it looked different than the moose from the books I've read.

It was as big as two full grown men standing on each other's shoulder, and its antlers weren't dull, but they seemed actually sharpened to a point.

Toeboe instantly shrunk back and whined.

Blue dropped me as her jaw fell open. I glanced at her for a moment. She was the only wolf I've ever seen do that.

Kiba turned to us, "Looks, like our first challenge has come."

Toeboe swallowed, "I think I prefer this than a walrus."

Almost everyone nodded their agreement. I think I'd prefer the walrus. They were fat.

The moose shook his head, and opened his mouth. He let out a bellow that was strangely not something that sounded like your average day deer could manage. It was so loud and unnatural that our fur was actually blown back. As my fur blew back it was like the blood washed away.

"Well, hello," I said shakily getting to my paws, "No offense, but you have a face only a mother could…nope never mind." The moose snorted through his nose, and turned a filmy blue eye on us.

"Now you're up?" Blue snapped, "We could be half a mile away by now."

Kiba lifted his lip, "Toeboy, take Cheza and get away. Akuma, I presume that you can fight." A snarl was my answer. The moose seemed to be patiently waiting. Blue looked at me, and nodded. She wasn't about to lose to me. Hige didn't look thrilled, but he nodded, as well.

Toeboe gave me a side glance, "I can fight too. I'm not a pup anymore."

Kiba flicked his tail nervously, but looked between Toeboe and me, before nodding, "Just take Cheza out of sight, and then come back." I looked at Kiba and Toeboe while wondering what was going on between the two of them.

Toeboe gulped, and grabbed Cheza's hand. They took off running.

"Hurry!" Kiba said turning to face the moose, "Before he comes back." Kiba looked at me, "Stay back. I don't want you to go into another….attack?" Normally I wouldn't agree, but I'd never felt so bad in my life before, and was not eager to jump into another one.

Blue and Kiba moved forward towards the moose.

Hige let out a whine, "Maybe we shouldn't mess with it. It's just standing there all…." The moose suddenly leapt into motion, and charged towards Blue, "Whose girlfriend do you think you're going after?" he snarled, and was ready to fight.

Kiba ran forward, and met the moose head on. Kiba didn't even reach its shoulder. Kiba grabbed the strange humpish thing on its neck, and dug his claws in. Blue circled around backwards, and started snapping at the back of the moose's calves.

Hige leapt forward, and barked in his face. I don't think he knew what to do. He didn't strike me as a hunter. I stood there feeling pretty useless. The moose threw his head, and Kiba went for a nice fly. The moose kicked, and caught Blue in the chest.

The moose suddenly turned super-herbavior, I thought nervously. The moose whirled around, and charged Blue. Hige leapt forward, and caught the moose's tail, but you know that saying, 'Don't grab a tiger by the tail?', yeah that goes double for a moose. The tail was just above the feet, and the moose sent the overweight male into the nearest rock.

"Hige!" Blue barked, and turned her attention towards the dazed male.

"Blue, watch the moose!" I snarled, but she looked back to late. The moose threw his head, and I heard this sickening thumping sound. As the moose raised its head an impaled Blue hung from its antlers. "Blue!" She tried to squirm and rip the antler out of her back leg.

"Don't move Blue!" Kiba said running beside me, "He doesn't know where you are!" Sure enough, the moose was turning in circles looking for the smaller female. Blue seemed to understand, and kept her paws from hanging in front of the moose's eyes.

"Hey, Kiba," I said figuring that I may as well start fighting, "What does the moose say when the awesome grey wolf bites it?" Kiba glanced over, "Guess we'll find out." I leapt forward. I thank luck, but I landed on his shoulders, barely dodging his sharpened antlers.

Biting a moose is much different than another wolf. Their hair was very wiry and greasy. The moose let out a startled grunt, and gave a buck. My dull claws couldn't hold on, so I decided to fight the way I do best, Risky.

I changed into my human form, and straddled its neck, and wrapping my legs around its thick neck. I squeezed with my legs thinking somewhere that maybe I could strangle it. I opened my fanged human mouth, and bit the moose in the back of the neck.

Kiba landed behind me, and started tearing viciously with his long teeth. I squeezed my legs tighter.

"Blue!" Hige was back on his feet, and jumped at the moose's head.

"That's where the antlers are!" I shouted at him around my mouthful of greasy fur. The moose reared back, and made Kiba fall off backwards. I, proud to say, stayed on. The moose struck out at Hige, but the large wolf was able to get his teeth around the nose of the moose.

He clamped there, and refused to let go. The moose slammed into a tree, but Hige held on. Blue had a hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming at the moose. I guess she realized that it was easier to stay out of the moose's eyes in human form. I grabbed the moose's throat, and started ripping.

I thought it would be easy just to rip his throat out, but I barely made a scratch.

"This moose's throat is made of metal!" I snarled muffled into the fur in frustration as my human claws didn't do any good.

"What?" Kiba snarled biting at the moose's back leg.

I released my mouth, "I said…!" The moose slammed sideways into a tree, and my knee slammed into the tree. I yelped, and released my leg grip around his neck. The moose brought his head straight up into mine, and I flew backwards.

I grabbed my mouth for a moment before rolling to my paws. Blood gushed from my grey mouth.

"Ohhh," I said with a snarl, "It's on like ping pong." A stupid saying I know, but it was the only thing I could really think of. I ran forward. I didn't know what I was doing. I just figured dodge the hooves, dodge the antlers, and bite at the vulnerable places. The throat seemed like the best place, for I was, now, going to use my wolf teeth.

I waited till the moose threw his head back to throw Hige off, and I leapt forward. I sank my teeth in the soft, squishy throat. I find what happened next to be very disturbing, but I'm not an active hunter so I wouldn't find it delightful.

Its throat exploded in blood. Blood forced itself down my throat. I gurgled my disgust. I shook my head. The moose lowered his head, and laid Hige on the ground. The moose stomped right on his stomach, and he released.

The moose turned, and tried to touch my leg with its nose. What's it going to do, I thought with my jaws clamped tight, nibble my leg? The moose opened his mouth, and sank his long canines into my leg. I clenched my jaws together, and then let go.

I hung upside down for a moment while the moose held his head up, "This thing's got freaking huge teeth!" I warned them. The moose let me slip from his teeth, and I landed on the hot desert sand. I landed on my back.

The moose instantly reared back, and hovered over me for a split moment. I am so going to die. I closed my eyes, and waited for the killer hooves to break me in half. Suddenly I felt as it was on me. It didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would. I opened my eyes to see total darkness.

I'm dead, I thought, and I'm in a dark world instead of heaven. This is my punishment for leaving those zoo wolves.

"Akuma!" I heard Kiba bark , "Are you dead?"

"Yup!" I said cheerfully, "And I'm in Hell. Dang, I kind of wanted to go to heaven."

I moved my head, and slowly moved out of under what I was under. A huge dead moose laid on top of me.

"Wow!" I barked in surprise, "What happened?"

Kiba looked over, and I followed his gaze. Toeboe stood there covered in blood, and looking really proud.

Toeboe wagged his tail, "Didn't see that one coming, did you?"

I huffed, and turned away from the horrified Toeboe. Okay, I was impressed. I could see that Toeboe had only finished ripping the moose's throat out, but it was still cool.

Hige and I pulled Blue off the antlers. She wasn't really on there very well anyways.

"Hey!" Toeboe said after he got over his shock, "I could use some thank you." He jumped in front of me, "I just saved your life. A little love…I mean appreciation would be great."

I snarled in his face, making him leap back, but I just smiled, and head butted his shoulder with my head, "Good boy."


	7. Chapter 7

"You want me to down there?" Toeboe whined looking down the long mine shafts that led deep into the mountain. I had to agree with Toeboe on this one. It didn't look safe. Maybe after the moose incident, my thirst for adventure had been thoroughly decreased, or the fact that the tunnels were continuously creaking despite the fact that there isn't any wind, but I didn't want to go down there.

Blue huffed, "Where's the mighty wolf that killed the moose now?" she asked stiffly. No one stuck up for Toeboe, for he had non-stopped bragged about how he killed the moose, and saved all of our lives for the last two days.

Kiba sniffed, "Well Paradise is this way. I can smell it." Kiba's white fur was stained black because this mine had, of course looked for precious metals, but focused on coal. The only wolf that appeared normal was Blue. The rest of us had these cool smudges.

I've decided if I live, and if they have dye in Paradise, then I'm making my fur this color permanently. Cheza was perched on my back once again. She said that it didn't hurt as much to ride me as it did to ride Kiba. Despite being bigger, I didn't need to eat as much as Kiba, and wasn't as thin.

Kiba turned his golden eyes on me, "Well, what about you, Akuma?"

I huffed. I obviously wanted to suggest we go find another way to Paradise, but I had no intention of making myself seem like a coward.

"I figure if we all died being torn apart by Jer…. Darcia." They didn't like it when I called him Jeremy, "Then dying by being crushed by earth actually seems a lot less painful." I know that that point it debatable, but that was my thoughts.

Hige shook his head, "I think that ever since we found Akuma that the number of insane wolves in this pack has gone from one to two."

Kiba and I looked at each other, "Thank you," we said at the same time.

"I say we go." Toeboe said with a throw of his head.

Blue bared her teeth in a wolfish smile, "The second Akuma says she wants to go, you suddenly change your mind? I wonder why that is?" Toeboe pinned his ears back, and gave a little growl. It was brave for Toeboe.

I ignored this. This strange taunting had been happening for a while now, and I don't know why. I mean there are times that I think Toeboe likes me, but then he spends a day completely snubbing me, and I realize that it's just in my head. The sad thing is I don't think I'd mind it if he liked me. I'd probably rather have Kiba like me, but there is honestly no way that we could date without ripping each other apart.

I looked into the black endless tunnels, "Well," I said with a huff, "The tunnels aren't going to get any safer by just waiting around."

Kiba gave a nervous glance at Cheza. We gotten, stolen, a bag at the last town we'd been in, and we'd filled it with water for Cheza. Hige tried to give us plant food because he figured since she ate everything else a plant ate that she'd eat the fertilizer. He dropped the idea when we pointed out that it was just a fancy name for cow poop.

We were going to give Cheza plenty of water, and hurry through the tunnels in hope of finding sun soon. The thing that concerned me was that the last time, apparently, we went into a cave, we were attack by huge bugs.

Cheza kicked my sides again, and I walked forward. I'd tried to break Cheza of the habit of kicking my sides, but she had completely ignored me, and actually did it more.

I've turned into a wolf horse. She tugs on my ears when she wants to go one way, and I want to go another. I don't always listen to her. Kiba instantly got in front of me. He was the leader, and he was determined for me to know of this.

I liked to point on that the alpha female usually had more power than the alpha male, but that just turned into some huge debate about the mental ability of scientists. I just shrug it off because I know that Kiba feels more threatened by my female life than my male life. I'm a little more demanding and capable of being a leader as a girl.

I followed closely after Kiba for if Kiba got out of my sight then Cheza would freak out, and start kicking me frantically. They were totally in love. I'll admit that being in this pack was starting to make me believe in love a little more.

While Hige always drooled at me when I changed, obviously I still had some clothing on, I'm sure the idea of cheating on Blue had never even crossed his mind. Blue was really in love with Hige for his personality, or why else would a wolf of her looks date a guy of his. Kiba and Cheza were completely in love, and had this strange way of showing it, and totally not noticing it! I was going to shove them together if it killed me.

The mine shaft smelled very stale. I felt like I was breathing, but I wasn't actually living. The mine had such a gloomy atmosphere that not even Hige was talking. Cheza grabbed my fur tighter, but it was the only sign that she was scared.

"This one wants to be with Kiba," Cheza said softly. I nodded, and dropped my shoulder, so she could slide down. I wasn't offended. If I was her, then I'd want to be with the one I loved in case we suddenly all died.

Kiba stopped, and let her leap on. She snuggled down into his fur, now much more willing to show her fear. Without Cheza on my back, I got a little more nervous. It was just the loss of the heat, but it still made me nervous.

We walked a little longer until I was sure we were in the middle of the mountain.

My ears kept twitching as I heard a dripping sound. I stopped and turned to my left. There was a tunnel that branched off, and the dripping sound was coming from that direction.

Hige and Blue passed me without as much as a backwards glance probably thinking I was stopping to…well, use the restroom. There's a saying, 'curiousity killed the cat,' so I'm curious what it would do to a wolf.

I mean this was the first tunnel we'd come across, so I figured that if I went down on tunnel that I would easily be able to find the pack again in little time. I was just curious what the sound was. After imagining an audience watching me in a movie screen screaming, "No! Don't go down the tunnel," I decided that I should go.

I trotted down the tunnel with my tail slowly wagging behind me to show that I was a little nervous, The tunnel was pretty thin, and at one point I didn't think I was going to be able to fit through it without breaking all the bones in my body, but I was barely able to squeeze through.

The sight that met me was worth the risk. On the ceiling were millions of little stars. That's what it looked like at first, but when I looked closer. I realized that there were strange little worms on the ceiling that emitted this beautiful blue color. That meant that the pool of similar colored substance below it must be their feces.

"It's beautiful." I leapt straight into the air, and whirled around. Toeboe was standing there with his tail wagging very slowly.

"You scared the crap out of me!" I snarled at the smaller wolf. Toeboe changed into a human, and sat down against the small cavern wall.

"Sorry," I followed suit and changed into human form. I knew that it hurt Toeboe's pride for me to be so much taller, so when we were alone we were usually in human form.

"It is pretty," I said looking up at them, "I actually prefer them more than the real stars."

Toeboe grunted, "Says the wolf that has only seen real stars in the last two weeks." I looked down to see that my skin was a light blue tint.

"Come here!" I said excitedly, and pulled him over to the light. His entire being was suddenly surrounded in a beautiful, blue light that made his reddish, brown hair glow. I blinked in surprise. Okay, I was just surprised about the sudden manliness look that the blue look added, and it had nothing to do to the fact I was holding his hand.

However, I didn't let go of his hand.

"Why is everything that nature makes so much better than what man makes?" I asked looking up at the worms and thinking how amazingly beautiful they were.

"Because men are animals," Toeboe said . I turned my eyes onto him, "No matter how man tries they will always be animals made and affected by everything that happens in nature." I blame the gas that was probably being released in the air, but I had to admit that he may be smart. Not that it mattered.

"I think animals are more barbaric than us," I said with a yawn, "I think we should head back to…" Toeboe took a step forward, and invaded my personal space. I gulped, and put my hand up to stop him from coming any closer, but he just continued to walk forward with his chest pushing against my hand. He slid his hand out of my grasp.

I've never been good at being in close proximately with others, and this was way closer than I was used to. I stepped back instantly, but Toeboe put his hands on forearms to keep me from moving.

"Hold still," he whispered in a husky voice that I've never heard before, "Please, don't move." My heart started thumping loudly in my chest. It felt like it was about to jump out through my mouth. He looked down at me with his beautiful eyes that reflected both me and the beautiful light blue from the background.

He leaned forward. He's going to kiss me! Should I punch his face? Should I knee him in the stomach? Do I kiss him back? He was getting closer. The men of my gang would laugh if they saw me in this state, I thought.

He got even closer. I'm going to let him kiss me, I decided, figuring since I was completely against it then maybe I liked him a little. I closed my eye, and waited, strangely eagerly, for his lips to find mine.


End file.
